An Afghan mother has been forced to earn money to feed one of her newborn twins amid a rapidly worsening food crisis in the country.
A 40-year-old woman from northern Jawazzan province gave a child to a childless couple in exchange for $104, which she hoped would buy enough food to support her family for six months.
Drought had forced the couple earlier this year from their farm and to a nearby town, where their husband and second eldest son had previously worked as labourers. Taliban Take-over collapsed in August AfghanistanThe economy and work dried up.
The United Nations now warns that more than half of Afghanistan’s population faces starvation this winter, a problem compounded by the fact that many aid agencies fled the country as the government fell and international aid dried up. Went.
The plight of this family was revealed save the kids, which still has workers on the ground distributing what food they have to the needy people.
A 40-year-old mother from Afghanistan has told how she was forced to sell her newborn twin son in order to get enough food to feed her sister (pictured, woman holds her baby girl)
The mother said her family was forced from their farm in Afghanistan’s Javazan province earlier this year, and the collapse of the economy made it impossible to find work.
Speaking to charitable workers, the Afghan mother reported that she had given birth to twins – a boy and a girl – about four or five months ago, shortly after leaving the farm due to drought.
A woman sitting in a bare room covered in carpets donated by a local mosque, told that all the clothes of the children are old and donated by the local people.
She had initially planned to have both children, but could not find enough food for even one of them – usually bread, and sometimes milk powder.
Her husband, 45, works as a laborer, but she says there are only enough jobs for one in five days’ work—and the day’s wages, about $1, just enough for two days’ worth of food. Is.
The second eldest son also works in a nearby market, the mother said, adding that the stall owners push the carts they use to carry their produce.
But since he is small, owners often prefer to use stronger children and he often goes without work.
With new babies crying out of constant hunger, the woman says a childless couple approached her and offered $104 to carry their newborn son.
Initially she refused, but after watching the boy cry for several days to eat – she decided that giving it to him was the best option to provide for him and his remaining children.
He said: ‘It was tough. More difficult than you can imagine. I gave my baby away because I was destitute… I was unable to take care of him and I couldn’t stand anything.
Husband of 45-year-old woman holds the hand of one of their seven children near the house they now live – wearing clothes donated by others
The family survives almost entirely on bread that they bake with flour, and are sometimes able to obtain milk powder to give to the child.
‘I gave all the money to my husband. He bought some rice, oil and flour. We have already eliminated them.’
Her husband said: ‘We need help, we are hungry and poor.
There are no work opportunities in Afghanistan. We have children. We need flour and oil the most, which we do not have. It is also good to have firewood.
‘I couldn’t afford to buy meat in the last two or three months. We only have roti for the kids which is not always available.
Save the Children provided the family with emergency packages for their home.
They were given items for the kitchen, blankets, winter clothes, shoes, tool kits and other essentials such as gas cooking stoves.
The workers also learned of a second case where another mother of twins was pressured by her family to leave one of them to die because she was suffering from malnutrition – but she refused to leave the girl. done.
The woman’s 18-month-old twins are both unhealthy and weak. The woman, suffering from cold weather and severe malnutrition, explained that she could not take care of her children as a single parent.
‘My son and my daughter cried all night because they were hungry. There is nothing in our house. We have no food, no flour, we have nothing.
‘My husband doesn’t send us money. (he says) “Let him die”. Everyone was telling me, “We’ll buy him”, but I didn’t leave him.
Another woman, who is also a mother of twins, told how her daughter is malnourished and her relatives have urged her to either leave the girl to starve or sell her.
Save the Children estimates that by the end of winter, 3.2 million young Afghans will be facing acute malnutrition.
Nora Hassanian, Acting Country Director in Afghanistan, said: ‘It is absolutely heartbreaking that some Afghan families are being pushed to such extreme, desperate measures to survive and feed their other children.
‘No parent should ever make the impossible decision of abandoning a child.
“Millions of children in Afghanistan, who have already spent their entire lives in war, are now being pushed to the brink of starvation.
‘As temperatures drop far below freezing, thousands of families will no longer be able to afford fuel to keep warm this winter, putting children at risk of illness or death.
‘The time is running out for kids to get the life-saving support they need to survive the cold. And aid efforts are being hampered by sanctions and counter-terrorism policies that prevent aid from getting to families who desperately need it.’
Save the Children is calling on governments to immediately relax existing counter-terrorism and sanctions policies, to allow for the quick and seamless delivery of life-saving humanitarian aid.
Woman says she refuses to give up despite child falling ill with malnutrition
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